Back @ the Ranch

After a brief sojourn at the Sorensons, I took a ($40!) cab from Love Field to DFW Airport to drive home. I arrived at like 1:30am, watered the animals, checked out our new angora "kid" and went to bed. Today was absolutely insane. I was going to deliver a longhorn to this guy way down south. That fell through (next week?) so I arranged to deliver the other one to this lady in Ft. Worth and to take all the unwanted sheep past Ft. Worth to a little town on the other side. The sheep thing fell through right about the time that I had finally gotten the longhorns ready to load into the back half of the trailer behind the sheep. :(

So, I left the sheep in the trailer for the day, and cancelled that trip. By this time, I had spent the better half of the day messing around with animals for nothing :( I called it quits on that (although both the longhorns are now penned up in stalls for an easier transition next time (they are really hard to work with because they are bigger than me, have sharp horns, and they know it.) I was able to get the mobile shed setup completed. This is the long awaited termination to a project that Dad started by taking apart a shed at this guy's house in Plano. We brought the pieces out, assembled them in the shop, then I built a frame out of recycled 2X6 steel channel and mounted the shed on it to create a sort of sled with a shed on top. Today, the welding was completed, the shop was screwed onto it, and it was towed out to the sheep pen behind the truck. The sled concept worked great, and it is now being used by the animals. Nice....at least something went well today.

While we were finishing up the shed (Ginger and I, because the older kids went to spend the day/night at the granparents house) I snapped this awesome photo of Ginger. She is actually clothed this time, but in true spicy style, she is fully accessorized for a day of shop work. Note the new giraffe boots, the blankie, the torch goggles, and the tradeshow badgeholder - all essentials for a hard day's work. The "P" on the shirt is for princess, but....

By the way - this shot is taken from inside the new shed before it was towed out to the field. I believe we were in the process of bolting the shed down to the frame and welding on the side handles/pull rings. Note the hay pile in the background - it was set on fire at least 10 times while doing the final welds. It kept getting hot all the sudden while I was welding and I would take off the mask and sure enough, I was sitting in a small hay fire.

In conclusion, I have to give it up for the Sorensons who saved the day in Chicago. It could have been a nightmare and instead, I was well-fed, well-kept, chauffered around town, and provided with internet access and a workspace. It really is hard to complain about that. Also, major kudos to the gramps who volunteered out of the blue to take the two older kids for the whole day. It was absolutely awesome for Jessica who has been getting more than her fair share of them this past week and who will be getting another overdose this coming week as I return (once again) to Chicago for work. Thanks family!